The new Viburnum cultivar originated as a chance seedling discovered in a commercial planting of an unnamed, unpatented Viburnum odoratissimum plant widely sold in the commercial horticulture trade. A single seedling with small foliage and compact plant morphology was discovered by the inventor in a commercial planting of an unnamed, unpatented Viburnum odoratissimum plant. The inventor selected this interesting seedling at a commercial nursery in Center Hill, Fla. in 2010.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar ‘COMPACT01’ by softwood cuttings was first performed during the Spring of 2011, at a commercial nursery in Center Hill, Fla. Subsequent asexual propagation has shown that the unique features of this cultivar are stable and reproduced true to type in 2 successive generations.